And then on Friday same principle I either I’m trying to push out things that I’m following up on or I’m scheduling for the next week or the following week because I’ve found that people are very optimistic on Fridays and they’re willing to commit to me on Fridays. But if I try to set something up on Monday they’re not willing to commit. So if I’m trying to I usually try to do my follow up on Mondays where I’m fulfilling my promises. And on Fridays I’m asking people for time commitments because they’re very optimistic on Fridays. And so I really try to use those two days as that. And then Tuesday through Thursday are really you know call an activity. And so making sure that I’m trying to be in front of decision makers push a deal forward. You know meeting with hopefully it’s for a business deal. But sometimes it’s just a an account review. But regardless of that it’s in front of a customer so I think just week to week that’s my structure.
Clip: Paul DiVincenzo on books as mentors
If you look at books as your mentors and you know as if you don’t have the ability or time or even maybe your personality doesn’t lend itself to jumping out and trying to find an in person mentor. If you look at books as your mentors and the authors as your mentors I would say yeah. Mix it up sooner so you know the the book that I was forgetting is called the Alliance by Reid Hoffman and if nobody knows what that is the Reid Hoffman is the guy that started LinkedIn and the book the alliance. It’s funny because when I read it a few years ago it had a big impact on me because I really tried not to look at myself as an employee. I think that’s a key to my success and is by acting like what I’m doing is my business and taking responsibility for it. And Reid Hoffman has a theory of the alliance is that especially sellers have an alliance with their company and that alliances were going to sell a lot of business a lot of good business and we’re going to you know get paid and get handled a certain way. And so the alliance was a really great mental concept for me and helped me focus in different ways kind of back to that adaptability. So I would say don’t just focus on sales books. I think at a certain point there’s only so many tactics that you can learn.
Clip: Paul DiVincenzo describes his $13M+ sales results last year
And it’s a weekly service weekly billing added up over the course of the year over the multi year agreement. So to give you some context last year when I was number one in the country that was my fourth number one I did fifty three thousand dollars in weekly revenue. And so that adds up to a total contracted value of 13 million dollars. A little bit over thirteen point seven. And so that was last year sales contracted revenue thirteen point seven.
Clip: Paul DiVincenzo on individual contributors don’t have control
I think this is a big thing and especially I appreciate you putting this thing this whole podcast together around individual contributors because I think that is it’s a it’s an unsung hero podcast we’ve got going on here. We we literally don’t control the majority of what’s coming out so I’ll just I’ll give you an example and tell you how I deal with it. So in the last three years I’ve been asked to focus on three separate focus areas. Every year it’s changed. And what I built up the prior year really couldn’t be used the next year so that I think happens a lot. And so the way I deal with it is I really try to go back to my number two which is focusing and mastery. I really try to to to create I read this concept and I really use it which is something called thinking time have you heard about this in general but maybe not the specific you’re thinking of. Right. So. So there’s a there’s a we haven’t gotten to books yet but I’m at say one here because I think it’s a really it’s a really great one. It’s a new one but the guy that wrote his name is Keith Cunningham. It’s not a sales book. It’s a business book. And then the book is called the road less stupid. And so his there’s a concept in this book that I had heard of in a speech a few years ago. So I got a preview to this the book just came out maybe a couple of months ago maybe six months ago. But the concept has been in my mind for about three years and it’s something called thinking time. And it’s really where you think about a problem. And so the answer to your question to me is I get thrown a curveball and that could be a KPI could be a minimum expectation. It could be changes to the plan. And so what I really try to do is stop for just a little bit and think about what this new problem has for me and a lot of times I’m able to to think about that problem and ask myself better questions to give myself better choices.
Episode 40: Top Cintas Sales Executive – Paul DiVincenzo – Relationships, Focus, Adaptability and Action
Top Cintas Sales Executive – Paul DiVincenzo – Relationships, Focus, Adaptability and Action
Paul DiVincenzo works on global accounts and strategic markets as a senior sales executive at Cintas. He has been #1 four of the last five years and last year sold $13.7M in total contracted value. He attributes his success to relationships, being battle ready, focus, mastery, adaptability and action. In this episode you’ll hear how this perennial top performer does it, and come away with actionable ideas to improve yourself and your own sales results.
Clip: Paul DiVincenzo The biggest challenge is all mental
I would say for me the biggest challenge is all mental. So I think we talked about this a little bit before and communicated on it. But for me it’s you know depending on the company. But I think all of our companies now year by year seems to be become very dynamic. And what I mean by that is things are constantly changing around what’s required not only to your number and max your comp but what’s required in the marketplace to make it a success. And so mentally really every year that you get a curveball thrown at you whether that’s an internal curveball because they change the comp or what they want you to focus on or what they feel that the company needs. To how are you going to position that in the market place those things that mental toughness and consistently overcoming that and being able to adapt and execute around it. That to me is the biggest challenge in sales and continues to be so, the days I forget it. I think I feel like it wasn’t as productive as it could have been and the days I keep that in my mind and I know that I’ve overcome these things before so don’t get overwhelmed by whether it be the minusha or the CRM requests or the proposal items that need to happen but really just know that you want to fight through that every day and make sure that your mental state is where you know it needs to be optimal.
Clip: Paul DiVincenzo on the sales books that have most impact
So I guess I would break it up maybe into you if you’re a new seller for me when I was a new seller I read very tactical books on sales. So they asked the first people might laugh at this but the first book I ever read on sales was Selling for Dummies by Tom Hopkins. And it was a very good book and had a lot of really standard great tips and sales. And as I progressed in my young sales career where I did a lot of cold calling one of the books that saved me because I absolutely hated cold calling by phone or in person but by phone specifically. And there’s a book by Stephen Schiffman. It’s called cold calling techniques that really work. And it is a very applicable book even for experienced sellers just in transitionary conversations. So those those really helped me in the beginning of my career and I know they sound really ridiculous and basic but but those are those. And other than that in sales I’ve you know just if you’ve been around sales a long time I’ve read the Spin Selling and Challenger Sales kind of the classics almost if you will and I haven’t as I have moved into my more experience selling years. For better or worse I’ve moved into more business or entrepreneurial books.
Clip: Paul DiVincenzo on his top 3 things for sales success
So I think the top three things for me have been relationships and what I call being battle ready focus and mastery. We’ll talk about these and that adaptability in action. So it’s a total of six but I combine them into three because I think they go together. So really you know with relationships and being battle ready. You know I think this is a core of being successful in sales and probably more than just that but in sales specifically at least I’ve found being in a couple different industries. You have to be very quick to build relationships with the customer as well as with with internal folks whether that’s V.P. or people that you need to approve or deals internally building those relationships quickly and really understanding each element that goes into it is what I call being battle ready meaning you are prepared to make that deal happen. And the more you know and the more you truly understand what you’re talking about. That leaves me into into number two. You’re able to really focus with your customer on what they need. Then you also have a mastery of what you’re talking about and that can be anything from the actual product or solution or service you’re providing all the way to internally whether you’re having a business conversation about how this makes business sense for the company and then leading down into Number 3. So really being adaptable and taking action you know things change consistently in business and so being able to adapt to those different scenarios you know and able to take action on those items. For me has been the key to success so running through those in depth we can go into them even more but I think those things are what I keep in the forefront of my mind.
Clip: Paul DiVincenzo on how top sellers have the same struggles as everyone else
But I think that number one is is that I do it all myself. The number two is that we don’t have the same struggles as somebody just starting out. I think that the answer is we absolutely do. So that’s everything from organization activity. Struggling with how to follow up best with customers. There is no shortage of those challenges and I think that we’re the top performers. The only difference that we do is we make sure that we have a great team and we have everybody on our team. So we’re not doing it by. And we’ve committed to pushing ourselves beyond what we’re supposed to do and into the realm of what we get the opportunity to do. So looking at challenges and routines and all those things we don’t look at those as things we have to do we look at those things as opportunities that we get to do and refine and we’re naturally curious being able to push ourselves to do that. I think a lot of people at least internally in the companies I work for and at Cintas is they think that he does it all himself. He’s got it all figured out. Never worries about his number and doesn’t have any stress and I’m out on the golf course by 2:00 in the afternoon every day. Literally that’s what I think they think. And it could not be further further from the truth. I’m like the hardest working man in show business. Emailing at one thirty in the morning helping people that’s not my not my responsibility to help but I’m doing it anyways because I know that it’s reciprocal and that will come back when I least expect it. So literally the opposite of what people outside looking in and think is the way I actually operate. And I think that’s been what’s allowed me to even be successful.
Clip: Paul DiVincenzo on being battle ready
What I say being battle ready meaning really knowing what I’m talking about whether that’s selling or something personal. I use that every day focus on what I’m doing. You know really being in the moment is a huge thing for me and then being masterful at what I’m doing.
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